Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Nineteen
Bane
“Locke in the guest room again?” Ransom asked as he walked into the kitchen, going straight for the coffee machine.
I yawned and nodded as I stood over the stove, adding bacon to my omelet.
“Curious about what’s gonna come of that?” he asked me.
I knew he wasn’t talking about Locke. It was Saylor and Gathe he was referring to. Since finding out about Halo and the baby, she’d been clinging to Gathe. That also meant crying and dramatic fits regularly. Which was why Locke wouldn’t stay at the house he shared with his brother. It was annoying as fuck.
“I reckon Gathe will eventually get what he’s always wanted,” I replied, not caring either way.
Ransom took his espresso and turned to me. “You’re gonna need to see a chiropractor if you keep sleeping with your back against a wall.”
I cut my eyes at him.
“What? My room is closest to the stairs. I heard you go up when she was screaming and not come down them until six thirty this morning.”
I didn’t want to talk about that.
Last night, well, I hadn’t really had a fucking option. Whatever the doctor had given Halo, it kept her asleep all right, but it didn’t stop her nightmares. I couldn’t wake her up. Tears rolled down her face, and she gasped out Crosby’s name over and over. The only thing that calmed her was me getting in that tiny-ass bed and holding her. She’d clung to me as her sobbing eased and finally went back to sleep. I tried to move twice, and she whimpered. The fact that I’d fallen asleep and slept peacefully for the first time in two fucking months wasn’t lost on me. I was going to believe it’d had nothing to do with holding Halo, but finally watching the son of a bitch who had killed Crosby die.
“You could move her to the guest room. It’s a king-size bed. No sleeping against a wall,” Ransom suggested. “Of course, Locke won’t fit in that twin on the third floor. He’ll have to either put up with Saylor’s shit or send her ass home.”
Why did this fucker always wake up so damn chatty?
I moved my omelet to a plate, then turned off the burner. “It’ll be fine,” I said when he kept looking at me, waiting for a response. “She’s pregnant, and after she gets over all the shit that has happened to her in the past week, this will pass.”
At least I hoped so because I could not climb into that damn twin bed another night with her body all pressed up against me. That had fucked up my head. I’d woken up with my nose in her hair, smelling her like a psychopath. When I realized just how tangled up together we were, I snapped out of it real damn fast and got the hell out of there, making sure to straighten her covers. Last thing I’d needed was her waking up and seeing another body imprint in the sheets.
“You make extra bacon?” Ransom asked, walking over to the fridge and turning on the news. He and Than were the only two who ever used that screen.
“No,” I replied gruffly, then sat down at the bar with my breakfast.
I heard footsteps and paused, but they were too heavy to be Halo’s. I’d hoped to get the hell out of this house before she came down this morning.
Yesterday had been too much. Seeing Crosby’s son and knowing she was carrying him hit me in an unexpected way. I found myself instantly softening toward her. Wanting to keep her safe. That baby had become the most important thing in my life. I needed it to be okay.
Hearing Ares talk about her life before hadn’t helped. It’d only prodded me.
A need to protect her was trying to inch its way to the surface. I wouldn’t allow it though. And I would not let her think my concern for my nephew meant she and I were friends. We would never be friends. She was the vessel holding the life that was giving my family a piece of my brother. Nothing more.
Than entered the kitchen, and his gaze locked on me instantly. I shoved some omelet into my mouth before he started asking the same nosy shit Ransom had. They all had heard her scream, just like they’d all heard me go upstairs last night. It wasn’t something I could hide. She was fucking loud.
“Mornin’,” he said.
“I’m making bacon. Want some?” Ransom asked him.
“Yes, please,” he drawled and grabbed a mug from the cabinet.
He was shirtless again. That annoyed me. Was it so hard to put on a fucking shirt?
“Meds didn’t work, huh?” Than said as he leaned back against the counter while the machine made whatever coffee option he’d chosen.
“What? Did the screaming give that away?” Ransom replied sarcastically.